THE HELPER
After
Adam had finished the task of naming all of the animals in the Garden of Eden,
he fell into a deep sleep. It had been a day full of activity and he was
exhausted! However, as busy as this 6th day of creation (and Adam’s very
first day) had been, it was yet far from over.
But the
deep slumber into which Adam fell was more than just the natural sleep of a
tired man. The narrative in Genesis 2 tells us that it was God that caused this
sleep to come upon him. The Lord had something in mind for Adam. What he had in
mind would be for Adam’s benefit and delight, but it would require a bit of a
sacrifice on the man’s part. While Adam was in his deep sleep, God opened
Adam’s side and removed one of his ribs. It was from this rib that Eve was
made.
Eve
was a special creation. Earlier in the second chapter of Genesis, we learned
that all of the beasts of the field and all of the birds of the air were formed
from the soil of the ground (2:19). Adam was also formed in
the same way (2:7). Eve alone, however, was not formed from the soil. She was
instead created in an entirely unique way, out of the material from Adam’s rib.
Another
point of uniqueness in the creation of Eve is that when we learn of the creation of Adam and all the breathing
creatures, the word that is used to describe the method that God used was that
he formed them. I discussed this word
at some length in Part 1.
Adam and Eve in
the Garden of Eden
By Jan Brueghel the Elder
|
However,
this same word is not used in the creation of Eve. Instead, verse 22 of this
chapter says that the Lord God made (banah) Eve out of Adam’s rib. This is a
very common word in the Old Testament, and in all but just a few cases, it is
used to describe a making or a building of something. For instance, it
is the word used in the building of a home or the construction of an altar.
When
Eve was created, she filled a need that had been previously unmet (please read
the last post - Part 5). I do not mean to imply that Eve was in some way an
afterthought, or that God had not previously planned on creating a female
counterpart to Adam’s maleness. All of the animals and birds apparently already
had a corresponding male and a female for each species. This seems to be true,
since it was after the naming of the animals that the realization came upon
Adam that he alone, among the living and the breathing creatures, did not have
a mate.
Eve
is called Adam’s “helper.” To us, this has a slightly demeaning connotation. In
our thinking, a carpenter’s helper is someone who the carpenter has to bring
him tools and to clean up after him. A bricklayer’s helper carries bricks all
day.
But
this is not the meaning in the Old Testament. The word in the Old Testament is ezer, and to get a feeling for the word,
here are a few other references that include this same word:
“The
God of my father was my help (ezer),
and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh.” (Exodus 18:4b NAS)
“Blessed
are you, O Israel; who is like you, a people saved by the LORD, who is the
shield of your help (ezer), and the
sword of your majesty!” (Deuteronomy 33:29 NAS)
Our
soul waits for the LORD; He is our help (ezer)
and our shield. (Psalm 33:20 NAS)
I
will lift up my eyes to the mountains; from where shall my help (ezer) come?
My
help (ezer) comes from the LORD, who
made heaven and earth. (Ps 121:1-2 NAS)
How
blessed is he whose help (ezer) is
the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God. (Psalm 146:5)
You
can see that all of these scripture passages use the word ezer as referring to God. In point of fact, in most places where it is used
in the Old Testament, it does refer
to God. The word ezer is one that speaks of a rescuer or a deliverer.
We
should not think of Eve as being given to Adam necessarily to merely always
assist him. Rather, in many ways, Eve rescued Adam from what would have
otherwise been a less than complete existence.
I will conclude this series next week.
I will conclude this series next week.
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